Companies Look To Cut Landscape Water Use

Chances are, you aren't a farmer. But your company still might be able to cut irrigation water use by reassessing watering around its facilities.

When it comes to watering landscapes, the title of one report posted on Irrigation.org sums up the problem: "Wednesday Is Not A Good Reason To Irrigate." Too many landscape sprinkler systems, from company campuses to apartment complexes to public parks, have automated timers that spray water based on the calendar and clock, not whether plants need it. Overwatering raises water bills, pollutes through excessive runoff, and damages structures such as sidew
Instead, emerging technology triggers landscape watering using information from sensors that measure soil moisture or calculations based on weather conditions, similar to systems more advanced farmers are using.

The technology isn't perfect, however. The Irrigation Technology Center at Texas A&&M University recently tested six manufacturers' smart controllers for landscape irrigation and found they all applied significantly more water than needed, says Guy Fipps, the center's director. Controllers that collected data at the watering site, from sensors or on-site weather stations, did better than those that relied on data pulled from regional weather stations. And Fipps is encouraged that four manufacturers contacted the Center about how to to improve controllers. "This is a new and emerging technology," he says. "You have to expect problems with new technologies." Also, even systems that watered more than necessary are better than manual systems, which tend to apply twice the water as necessary.

Companies aren't waiting for sensors to be perfect. Hydropoint, the venture capital-backed maker of WeatherTrak landscape irrigation systems, counts AMD, Coca-Cola, and Kohl's among its customers. Jack in the Box restaurants says it cut water use 47% with better water management, including WeatherTrak's system.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, which provides a WaterSense certification to water-saving products such as low-flow showerheads, is working on specs for weather- and sensor-based landscape irrigation systems, believing they likely can hit the 20% water savings that the WaterSense label requires